Purnomo may be OPEC secretary general

Indonesian Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Thursday he might be appointed acting Secretary-General of OPEC at the end of the year, in addition to him taking over the rotating presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

At their September meeting, OPEC ministers had agreed that if the secretary-general post was empty at the end of December and if there was no consensus on a replacement, then the OPEC president would take the job on an acting basis, he said.

The minister said he hoped OPEC could reach a consensus on the position.

Purnomo is due to take over the rotating presidency of OPEC at the end of 2003, having been selected for the post at OPEC's Sept. 24 meeting.

There are three candidates for the post - Venezuela, Iran and Kuwait, he said.

"The majority is for Kuwait...to date, there is no consensus," he said.

Kuwait has nominated Adnan Shahib-Eldin, current director of OPEC's research department, while Iran wants deputy oil minister Hadi Nejad Husseinian. The current incumbent is Venezuela's Alvaro Calderon Silva. -- Dow Jones